Mount Olive will proceed with $2.2 million sewer project

MOUNT OLIVE -- The Local Government Commission has given the town permission to proceed with construction of its $2.2 million Phase IV sewer project.

The approval cleared the way for the town board to approve the issuance of $729,000 in bonds at its meeting Monday.

No one spoke during a brief public hearing held just prior to the board's approval.

Commission approval was necessary since the town will borrow $729,000 for the project. The remaining $1.5 million will be combined grant funding from the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund and United States Department of Agriculture.

Along with clearing the way to proceed, the approval also means the town can expect to be reimbursed about $350,000 already spent on emergency sewer repairs and project planning.

The contract for the work already has been awarded to Step Construction Co. of LaGrange and the notice to proceed had been awaiting the commission's approval.

A pre-construction conference and notice to proceed will be held April 13 at 10 a.m. at town hall.

The project will likely mean a sewer rate increase of about $1 to $1.50 per month for the average Mount Olive household, or a $12 to $18 increase per year.

"Thanks to the hard work and diligence of the Clean Water Management Trust staff and USDA staff this project will address the majority of the issues with the town's sewer collection system," Mayor Ray McDonald Sr. said. "This long-awaited project will involve the replacement or rehabilitation of sewer lines throughout the town, designed to reduce inflow and infiltration into our sewer collection system. In the past, that has lead to sanitary sewer overflows and has increased the cost of our sewer treatment."

Inflow and infiltration, also known as "I&I," happens when storm water gets into the sewer lines. Once in the system that water has to be treated just like sewage, which costs the town more and places an additional strain on the sewer treatment system.

In addition, the project will redirect sewer flow north of Bert Martin Road along a more direct line to the treatment plant. That will reduce the flow through the downtown lines reducing the strain on that line and lift stations.

The new force main will go directly to the plant down Park Avenue, Old Seven Springs Road, Bell Avenue to the old outfall line.

Three new lift stations will be installed and several existing ones will be remodeled. They all will have data-gathering (telemetry) equipment installed to reduce the weekly number of visits that town personnel have to make to them.

The telemetry will provide information such as if the pumps are running, how long they have been running, how much flow went through the lift station and when the last time it was serviced.